WILLIAMS, HENRY SHALER

(b. Ithaca, New York, 6 March 1847; d. Havana, Cuba, 31 July 1918)

paleontology, stratigraphy

Williams was a member of a family long prominent in Ithaca. Interested in natural science from an early age, he received the Ph.B from the Sheffield Scientific School in 1868 and the Ph.D. from Yale in 1871. After a few years in his father’s business he joined the faculty of geology at Cornell University. Of an independent mind regarding geology, he vigorously commenced paleontological and stratigraphical studies on the Devonian rocks of central New York; and during the next twelve years he not only described these rocks and their fossils in detail but also demonstrated that the true relationships to time (correlation) could be shown only by careful paleontological analysis. Williams quickly became aware of the connection between facies changes and the evolution and shifting of fossil faunas, a theme that occupied much of his work and one on which he published many papers, culminating in his monograph on recurrent Tropidoleptus zones (1913). He extended his work on the Middle Paleozoic strata over much of the eastern United States as an associate of the U.S. Geological Survey.

William’s major contribution to the philosophical aspects of paleontology and stratigraphy was his book Geological Biology (1895). Ahead of its time, its ideas had little impact; but it is now recognized as a minor classic. From analyses of the fossil record Williams made a perceptive and striking estimate of the relative lengths of time involved in the great geological periods, estimates that correspond closely to those based on the radiometric methods of the twentieth century.

In 1892 Williams returned to Yale as Silliman professor of geology, succeeding James Dwight Dana. In 1904 he returned to Cornell, where he continued his research until he retired in 1912. In 1888 he was one of the leading founders of the Geological Society of America, two years after he had organized the Society of te Sigma Xi.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. Original Works. Williams wrote more than ninety books and papers, among which the most important are “The Cuboides Zone and Its Fauna; a Discussion of the Methods of Correlation,” in Bulletin of the Geological Society of America1 (1890), 481–500; “Correlation Papers: Devonian and Carboniferous,” in Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey,80 (1891); “Dual Nomenclature in Geological Classification,” in Journal of Geology,2 (1894), 145–160; Geological Biology, an Introduction to the Geological History of Organisms (New York, 1895); “Fossil Faunas and Their Use in Correlating Geological Formations,” in American Journal of Science,163 (1902), 417–432; “Shifting of Faunas as a Problem of Stratigraphic Geology,” in Bulletin of the Geological Society of America,14 (1903); and “Recurrent Tropidoleptus Zones of the Upper Devonian in New York,” in Professional Papers. United States Geological Survey,79 (1913).

II. Secondary Literature. See H. F. Cleland, “Memorial of Henry Shaler Williams,” in Bulletin of the Geological Society of America,30 (1919), 47–65, with portrait and bibliography of published works; H.E. Gregory, “Professor Williams at Yale,” in Science49 (1919), 63–65; Charles Schuchert, “Henry Shaler Williams, an Appreciation of His Work in Stratigraphy,” in American Journal of Science,196 (1918), 682–687; and Stuart Weller, “Henry Shaler Williams,” in Journal of Geology26 (1918), 698–700.

John W. Wells